Miszelle Die Royal Air Force Über Osterreich. Kriegs

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Miszelle Die Royal Air Force Über Osterreich. Kriegs Miszelle Wolfgang Etschmann Die Royal Air Force über Osterreich. Kriegs- und Friedensoperationen der britischen Luftwaffe während des Zweiten Weltkrieges und im beginnenden Kalten Krieg, 1940-1947 Die historische Aufarbeitung der »Besatzungszeit« in Österreich zwischen 1945 und 1955 hatte bisher vor allem die amerikanischen und sowjetischen Verwal- tungsbehörden und Besatzungstruppen zum Thema. Intensivere und genauere Forschungen über das britische Besatzungselement lassen sich hingegen erst in den späten siebziger Jahren finden. Die Geschichte der britischen Streitkräfte, die in den ersten beiden Jahren nach 1945 als Besatzungstruppen in Österreich stationiert waren, kann - soweit es sich um Heeresverbände handelt - mittlerweile als recht gut erforscht gelten. Speziell durch die Arbeiten Siegfried Beers, bzw. die von ihm in den letzten Jahren ange- regten und initiierten Untersuchungen sowie einzelne Veröffentlichungen von stei- rischen und Kärntner Historikern, die sich intensiver mit der Landesgeschichte nach 1945 beschäftigt haben, kann von einem guten Forschungsstand gesprochen werden1. Interessanterweise ist über die britische Royal Air Force (RAF) als Element der britischen Besatzung in Österreich wenig bekannt und im deutschsprachigen Raum bisher kaum etwas publiziert worden. Und dies, obwohl die Verbände der RAF in Österreich vom Kriegsende bis zum Jahresbeginn 1947 gemäß den britischen strategischen Überlegungen eine nicht unbedeutende Rolle im ab Ende April 1945 stetig eskalierenden politischen Kon- Die vorliegende Arbeit ist das Ergebnis eines jahrelangen Interesses für die Geschichte militärischer Luftoperationen im Zweiten Weltkrieg und in den Jahrzehnten danach. Die bis heute wenig bekannte, aber relativ starke Präsenz britischer Luftstreitkräfte auf österreichischem Gebiet zwischen Anfang Mai 1945 und Ende Januar 1947 haben mich bewogen, dieses Thema zu bearbeiten. Die knappe Darstellung ist einerseits ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der britischen Besatzungspolitik in Österreich und andererseits eine Fall- studie zur Frühzeit des Kalten Krieges in Mitteleuropa. Die Quellenlage für diesen The- menbereich ist durchweg gut. Im Prinzip stehen im britischen Staatsarchiv (Public Re- cord Office - PRO) alle Aktenbestände zur Besatzungszeit in Österreich zur Einsicht of- fen. Einige für das Thema relevante Aktenbestände sind bedauerlicherweise bereits ver- nichtet worden. Zu den informativsten deutschsprachigen Publikationen über die britische Besatzung in Österreich, speziell der Steiermark vgl. Die »britische« Steier- mark 1945-1955, hrsg. von Siegfried Beer, Graz 1995 (= Forschungen zur geschichtli- chen Landeskunde der Steiermark, Bd 38) sowie Alice Hills, Britain and the Occupati- on of Austria, 1943-1945, London 2000. Zur Geschichte jener Verbände der British Eighth Army, die Anfang Mai 1945 österreichisches Gebiet besetzten Richard Doherty, Α No- ble Crusade. The History of Eighth Army 1941^15, Staplehurst 1999, wie auch Ken Ford, Battleaxe Division. From Africa to Italy with the 78ft Division, 1942^15, Stroud 1999, so- wie Richard Dougherty, Clear the way! A History of the 38th (Irish) Brigade, 1941-47, Portland 1994. Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift 61 (2002), S. 155-173 © Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Potsdam 156 MGZ 61 (2002) Wolfgang Etschmann flikt der westlichen Alliierten mit Jugoslawien und auch der Sowjetunion - also im rasch beginnenden Kalten Krieg, der schließlich auch sehr bald Österreich selbst zum Schauplatz machte, spielten2. Einsätze der Royal Air Force über Österreich während des Zweiten Weltkriegs Schon sehr bald nach der Kriegserklärung Italiens an Großbritannien am 10. Juni 1940 begannen nicht nur die Kämpfe zwischen britischen bzw. Commonwealth- Truppen und den italienischen Streitkräften in Nord- und Ostafrika sowie im ge- samten Mittelmeerraum, es verlagerten sich auch die Aktivitäten des Bomber Com- mand der Royal Air Force nach Norditalien, wodurch es im Sommer 1940 zu ver- einzelten Überflügen von österreichischem Gebiet kam. Abwürfe von Flugblättern durch britische Bomber der 4. Bomber Group über Osterreich lassen sich schon um die Jahreswende 1939/40 nachweisen - bereits ein deutliches Zeichen dafür, daß die »Ostmark« als der »Luftschutzkeller des Deut- schen Reiches« auch schon damals gegen Einflüge einzelner Flugzeuge keinesfalls so absolut »sicher« war wie von der deutschen Führung angenommen. Bei der Durchführung von Luftangriffen auf süddeutsche und norditalienische Ziele wurde Tiroler und Vorarlberger Gebiet zwischen Mitte Juni und Ende Au- gust 1940 von britischen Bombern mehrmals überflogen. Diese Flüge wurden von Bombern der 4. Group des Bomber Command der RAF, die, wie erwähnt, auch schon bis in den ostösterreichischen Raum vorgedrungen waren, durchgeführt3. Die Royal Air Force hingegen, die schon seit November 1940 die griechischen Streitkräfte bei ihren Abwehrkämpfen gegen italienische Verbände aller drei Waf- fengattungen unterstützt hatte, operierte nun bereits von Griechenland aus gegen Bulgarien und flog am 7. April 1941 erstmals schwere Angriffe gegen die nahezu unverteidigte Hauptstadt Sofia. 2 Als gedruckte Behelfe für Forschungen in diesem Bereich empfehlen sich John D. Cant- well, The Second World War. Α Guide to the documents in the Public Records Office, London 1993 und Simon Fowler, Peter Elliott, Roy Conyers Nesbit, Christina Goulter, RAF Records in the PRO, London 1994 (= PRO Readers' Guide, 8). 3 In der Nacht zum 17. August 1940 stürzte das vermutlich erste alliierte Flugzeug - ein britischer zweimotoriger Bomber des Typs Armstrong Whitworth »Whitley« der 102. Squadron über dem heutigen österreichischen Gebiet (nahe des Gipfels des Hohen Lichts im Lechtal) ab. Die sterblichen Überreste der Besatzung sind auf dem britischen Solda- tenfriedhof in Klagenfurt beigesetzt. Dazu W.R. Chorley, Royal Air Force Bomber Com- mand Losses of the Second World War, Vol. 1: Aircraft and Crews lost 1939-1940, Leice- ster 1992, S. 100; G. Larry Donnelly, The Whitley Boys. 4 Group Bomber Operations 1939-1940, New Maiden 1991, S. 180. Bereits in der ersten Phase des Balkanfeldzuges der deutschen Wehrmacht im April 1941 griffen in den ersten Tagen der Kampfhand- lungen einzelne Bomber der jugoslawischen Luftwaffe (vom britischen Typ Bristol »Blen- heim« - dabei wurden diese Flugzeuge von der deutschen Luftabwehr fallweise als RAF- Bomber angesprochen) Ziele in Südostösterreich an. Dabei wurde das Stadtgebiet um den Hauptbahnhof Graz getroffen. Ein weiterer jugoslawischer Bomber drang am 7.4. sogar in den Raum Wiener Neustadt vor, stürzte aber im Gebiet nördlich des Hoch- wechsels bei Pinggau ab. Dazu Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia, Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete 1940-41, London 1987, S. 202. Die Royal Air Force über Österreich 157 Im gesamten Kriegsschauplatz des Mittelmeerraumes, aber auch in Ostafrika und im Nahen Osten wirkten die britischen Luftstreitkräfte (hauptsächlich die »De- sert Air Force«) bis zum Mai 1943 wesentlich an der Niederringung der Streitkräfte der Achsenmächte und ihrer Verbündeten (hierzu müssen auch Teile der Vichy-fran- zösischen und die irakischen Streitkräfte gezählt werden) bis zur Kapitulation der Achsenstreitkräfte in Tunesien im Mai 1943 mit4. Die westalliierten Operationen richteten sich nach den strategisch-operativen Vorgaben der Konferenz von Casablanca im Januar vorerst gegen den »weichen Un- terleib« der »Festung Europa«. Die auf dieser Konferenz in ihren Grundzügen fest- gelegte alliierte »Combined Bomber Offensive« (CBO) sah neben den Angriffen des Bomber Command der Royal Air Force und der amerikanischen 8. Air Force von England aus die schrittweise Errichtung einer »zweiten« strategischen Luftfront ge- gen das Deutsche Reich im Mittelmeerraum vor. Britische und amerikanische stra- tegische Luftstreitkräfte in Nordafrika flogen daher ab dem Hochsommer 1943 nicht tiur Angriffe zur Unterstützung der eigenen Heeresverbände bei der Besetzung Si- ziliens und Süditaliens, sondern griffen fallweise, wie die schweren Bomberverbän- de der amerikanischen 9. Air Force, bereits am 1. August 1943 die Ölraffinerien in Plo- esti und am 13. August 1943 die Messerschmitt-Werke in Wiener Neustadt an5. Eine erhebliche Verbesserung für die strategischen Bomberverbände der Alliier- ten hatte die Besetzung des Raumes Foggia in Apulien bis Ende September 1943 ge- bracht. Hier gelang es den effektiven Bodenorganisationen der allüerten Luftstreit- kräfte binnen weniger Wochen, neben der bereits vorhandenen italienischen Luft- waffenbasis bei Foggia noch dreizehn weitere Großflugplätze neu anzulegen. Von diesen Basen aus starteten nun die am 1. November 1943 in der neuaufgestellten 15. Air Force (ursprünglich unter dem Kommando von General Doolittle) zusam- mengefaßten amerikanischen strategischen Bomberverbände (ausgerüstet mit den viermotorigen Bombern Boeing B-17 »Flying Fortress« und Consolidated B-24 »Li- berator«) und ihre Begleitjägerverbände und schließlich auch die 205. Group der RAF ab Februar 1944 zu Luftoperationen im verstärkten Ausmaß gegen Ziele im zentral- europäischen Raum6. Zwischen Juli 1943 und April 1944 lag der Schwerpunkt der RAF-Operationen noch im westlichen Mittelmeerraum in der taktischen Luftunter- stützung der eigenen Kräfte (britische 8. Armee) in Sizilien und Mittelitalien. Ge- meinsam mit den taktischen Fliegerkräften der amerikanischen 12. Air Force wurden 4 Zum Uberblick dient vor allem John D.R. Rawlings, The History of the Royal Air Force, London 1984. Zur genauen chronologischen
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